Lobby

January 1928

Step back in time to see what area movie theaters
were presenting in January 1928, the month that the Michigan Theater and
the Redford Theatre opened. Film titles are linked to the Internet
Movie Database.

When
1928 began, movie theaters in the Detroit and Ann Arbor area were filled
with what we now call silent movies. To the filmgoers of that time, the
normal way to watch movies was with intertitles and live musical accompaniment.

But change was in the air, in the form
of The
Jazz Singer, starring Al Jolson. This talking picture opened in
December 1927 at the Madison in Detroit, "where
last week it was necessary to ask for a detail of police to assist the
house management in maintaining order in the lines of would-be ticket
purchasers," wrote Ella H. McCormick in the "Speaking of the
Cinemas" column in the January 1, 1928 edition of The Detroit
Free Press.

By the end of January 1928, two more theaters would add
to the wide variety of moving picture houses in the Detroit region. One
theater brought the
downtown Detroit movie palace experience to Ann Arbor, while the other
helped expand, into the suburbs, the empire of a downtown Detroit movie
theater chain.

And both were launched with the same mission that helps
them continue to thrive in the 21st centurya sincere desire to serve
their community.

"NEW
MICHIGAN THEATER TO OPEN TONIGHT," read the large headline in the
January 5, 1928 edition of The Ann Arbor Daily News. The big bold
lettering of that headline topped a full page of articles about the new
movie palace that was opening in downtown Ann Arbor that day. Other headlines
on that page included:

"Decorations Rival Those Of Largest
Houses In Nation: Completion of New Michigan Provides City with One of
the Most Gorgeous and Spacious Theatres in the State"

"Best Of Acts Are Promised: Manager Says Only High
Class Presentations Will Be Offered"

The
lead editorial in that day's Daily News was titled "The New
Michigan," and stated, "Those who are regular patrons of theaters
will readily appreciate this magnificent new structure; but even those
who seldom visit such a place ought to visit the new Michigan and become
acquainted with it. Civic pride is bound to receive impetus as a result."

The Michigan would join the Butterfield chain of theaters,
which, the
Daily News noted in its January 5 editorial,
is "an organization which has been taking the lead, during the past
decade, in giving the medium-sized cities of the state better amusement
places and better amusement."

Managing
the Michigan was Gerald Hoag, who since 1919 had been managing the Majestic,
one of four other Butterfield theaters in the city (along with the Arcade,
Wuerth, and Orpheum). Detroit-based architect Maurice Finkel (who had
worked with noted architect Albert Kahn) used Romanesque elements to help
the Michigan blend in with the classic designs of many of the buildings
of the University of Michigan.

The
Michigan was the culmination of a long-time dream of Greek-born theater
building owner Angelo Poulos, who also owned the Allenel Hotel and the
Ann Arbor Café. The theater building also included nine stores,
second floor offices, and bowling alleys in the basement.

Opening
Night included the movie comedy A
Hero for a Night, starring Glenn Tryon, along with newsreels and
other screen treats. Live entertainment was provided by Ida Mae Chadwick
and her dancing "Dizzy Blondes"; the Michigan Orchestra conducted
by Karl Wiederhold; Floyd Hofmann at the Grande Organ; and a monkey that
ran through the Michigan crowd (perhaps to get a better look at a monkey
appearing in A Hero for a Night).

"I was thrilled and proud of the fact that this is
my theater and yours," wrote
the "Stage and Screen" columnist H. H. O. of The Ann Arbor
Daily News on January 6, 1928. "There was an indefinable sentiment
attached to the opening that set it apart from the usual run of first
nights. You could feel it in the atmospherea sense of reverence
and awe and appreciation."

For more about the opening of the Michigan, visit the
theater web site.

Redford Theatre

"Redford to Wear Gala Dress for Theater Opening,"
read the headline of an article
in The Detroit Free Press on January 15, 1928. The article noted
that "Greater Redford Week" would "signalize that suburb's
confidence in a prosperous 1928" and "center around the opening
of the new Kunsky-Redford theater, on Lahser road near Grand River avenue."

Two
weeks earlier, on January 1, the Free Press reported that the installation
of the organ in the new Kunsky-Redford theater could now be completed,
with the delivery of a "small reed, scarcely larger than a crayon
pencil."

"The reed is to reproduce exactly
the sacred musical tones of Japan, making
it possible to put on an organ concert entirely in harmony with the
atmospheric decorations of the auditorium which represents an open-air
Japanese garden," read the article in the "Screen" section
of the Free Press.

Anticipation
for the Redford's opening continued to grow, in a busy period for movie
theater growth in the Detroit area. The United Artists Theatre at Bagley
and Clifford was scheduled to open on February 3, with Gloria Swanson
in Sadie
Thompson. An artist's sketch in the January 15 Free Press
previewed the new Kunsky-Royal Oak theater, also nearing completion.

The big day finally came
on January 27. "Redford last
night joined those Detroit suburbs
which proudly boast of having new 'super-deluxe' motion picture
palaces," reported Ella H. McCormick of the Free Press in
her January 28 "The Reel Players" column.

McCormick also observed, "The new
theater is probably one of the most unique of Detroit's many beautiful
movie houses. It is classified as an 'atmospheric'
theater. The architects and decorators have made the auditorium
appear like a Japanese garden, with clouds over head, the walls
picturesque with odd shaped roofs and spires of Japanese landscape, trees,
etc."

The evening began with a ribbon-cutting ceremony involving
two youngsters who had won an essay-writing contest on "Why I Like
To Live in Redford." (Shirley Hathaway of the
Keeler school and Clarence Schmidt of the Houghton school).
Roy Burgess of the Redford Exchange club told the
Opening Night crowd "that the opening of the new theater, with the
activity it will create, will mark the beginning of a new era of prosperity
and progress for Redford."

The Kunsky-Redford was the second of three suburban Kunsky
theaters (along
with the existing Birmingham and the soon-to-be-opened Royal Oak). "Faith
in the bright prospects of growth in suburban Detroit is expressed by
the Kunsky officials in explaining their residential neighborhood theater
expansion program," wrote McCormick in the Free Press.

After the ceremonies, about 2,000 visitors relaxed and
enjoyed guest
organist Don Miller (from the Kunsky Capitol theater) on the new Barton
organ. The Redford's opening night film was The
Gay Defender, a romantic drama with Richard Dix and Thelma Todd.

So began a long history of moviegoing entertainment by
the Redford. The glowing lights of the Redford marquee
later publicized these other movies in January 1928 : Becky
(Sally O'Neill); She's
a Sheik (Bebe Daniels); and The
Way of All Flesh, which helped Emil Jannings win the first Oscar
for Best Actor in a Leading Role.

For more information about the opening of the Redford,
visit the theater web site.